Unwanted
by Dragon'sHost
Summary: In the wake of Fairy Tail's disbandment, Macbeth finds Erza to be an unwanted addition to Crime Sorciere's travels.
1. Autumn

This is the second of two drabble series I will post daily for this month. They will only be five sentences long, and based on autumn-themed prompts. I hope you all enjoy them.

* * *

 ** _Prompt: Autumn_**

* * *

It was in the autumn after the Fairy Tail guild disbanded that Erza came to travel with Crime Sorciere. Every member of the ragtag group of misfit criminals had their own private reservations about this development, but none held more reluctance than Macbeth did. He wasn't even entirely sure why – it had been years since his defeat at her hands, after all.

Then again, it _had_ been a rather humiliating experience.

Perhaps the most infuriating part of it all was how Erza herself had greeted him as if he were an old friend, and not a former enemy – depriving him of even that small dignity.


	2. Fire

**_Prompt: Fire_**

* * *

Having a fire lit was a luxury that Crime Sorciere generally could not afford most nights – what with their criminal status and constant pursuit by both the law and other enemies. One was always lit at Erza's request, though, the Titania bullying her way to whatever she wanted of the group, whether the request made sense or not. Jellal, burdened by his past actions against her, was incapable of telling her no. Just yet another thing about her that Macbeth found incredibly annoying.

But he had to admit that as the nights began to grow colder, he _did_ appreciate the extra warmth.


	3. Cider

**_Prompt: Cider_**

* * *

A mug was pressed suddenly into Macbeth's hands with a brisk, "Here," and by instinct, the man took it. Erza smiled self-satisfactorily and walked away from Macbeth without any further attempt to converse with him, which was both a blessing and a mild irritant all on its own.

He stared into the depths of the warm, strongly scented drink – curious about the contents, but somewhat unwilling to accept an offering from Erza without some wariness. Where had she even pulled the mug – let alone the drink contents – from?

After a few minutes, Macbeth gave into temptation, and found the drink to be rather pleasant, after all.


	4. Moon

**_Prompt: Moon_**

* * *

Crime Sorciere slept, huddled together in the large tent that Erza had managed to produce from one of her many pocket spaces. Macbeth, however, could never sleep at the height of night when his magic flowed strongest through his veins, and so found himself sitting by the dying embers of the fire instead.

The moon shone, bright and full, down upon the small encampment – lighting up the surrounding area far more effectively and kindly than any fire could.

Erza, returning from her turn at watch, startled a little at seeing his darker form in the light; Macbeth watched as she shrugged off her momentary unease, and nodded at her when she passed by him to reach the tent.

"Good luck on your watch," she told him as she vanished from his sight.


	5. Cold

**_Prompt: Cold_**

* * *

"Aren't you ever cold?" Macbeth questioned Erza early one morning, as she requipped into her armor for the day.

She blinked in surprise, rendered momentarily silent by the suddenness of Macbeth's query. "I… wear underclothes," Erza defended hesitantly.

"But you have a ton of gaps in both, and you're wearing metal in autumn," he pressed, unwilling to let this go when he himself was near freezing even with his fur-lined clothes and more than a little put-out that Erza appeared to be suffering no ill effects whatsoever.

Erza merely shrugged, causing Macbeth to hang his head in defeat and sigh loudly.


	6. Leaves

**_Prompt: Leaves_**

* * *

Color swept slowly over the landscape, the leaves on the trees changing and falling to the ground, and dying the world. It was a sight Macbeth had missed in prison, he found to his surprise. There was something about the world's slow descent into slumber that put him at peace.

But this year, whenever he looked at the crimson leaves, waves of annoyance would sweep through him, the large abundance thereof making him rather irritable, indeed.

How strange.


	7. Mud

**_Prompt: Mud_**

* * *

The grasping, wet muck sucked at the group's feet, impeding their travel immensely. It clung to everything and washing it off was an impossibility with the lack of warm water in which to bathe – the cold streams more likely to kill them all off more than their multitude of enemies were. Whenever they encountered frozen mud was somehow even worse, with its ability to twist or break their ankles. An injury like that could prove devastating with the group's lack of healing supplies or even the most basic of first aid.

Not for the first time, Macbeth wondered just why it was that Erza had left the world of warmth, clean beds, and decent medical care to tag along with their pathetic little group of criminals on the run – much less why she _continued_ to stay.


	8. Festival

**_Prompt: Festival_**

* * *

"I'm going down there, Jellal, and you can't stop me – it's a much needed chance to replenish our supplies that we can't forage."

"Erza," the blue haired man entreated, looking intensely pained, "we can't afford to loiter around a town like this with increased security from the festival going on."

It was a rare occurrence to hear raised voices from Erza and Jellal, and the sound drew Macbeth like a moth to flame. "Just let her go Jellal; it's easier and faster than fighting with her," Macbeth stated, not entirely certain what they were arguing about but not about to let the opportunity to wheedle Jellal go.

Jellal sighed heavily and his entire body slumped in defeat, while Erza beamed and patted Macbeth on the shoulder with a cheerful, "Thank you, Macbeth," that left the man feeling very, very strange.


	9. Nature

**_Prompt: Nature_**

* * *

It wasn't in Macbeth's nature to let things go, but after a couple of weeks of enforced closeness with Erza, even he had to admit that continuously hating her took up a lot more energy than he really had to spare. Survival was just too damn hard with Jellal's methods, and the work they did was dangerous as well no matter how strong all the members of Crime Sorciere were. It was one thing to despise her in prison, with nothing else to do, and another entirely when they had to watch each other's backs during a fight with dark mages.

Furthermore… there was just something about Erza that he couldn't quite put his finger on, even knowing the gist of her history and how it dovetailed with his own (especially where Jellal was concerned).

Perhaps that was the root of his problems with her, after all.


	10. Frost

**_Prompt: Frost_**

* * *

The first hard frost of the year really rammed home the notion that the group needed to find a permanent shelter and base of operations for the winter. It was difficult to travel in the extreme temperatures, and food and other basic supplies would become much harder to come by, especially for the now much larger group. The only advantage was that most other dark guilds that were mobile would also hunker down for the winter, making them a little easier to pick off once located.

Erza had volunteered to procure anything the guild required from towns herself, but somehow it didn't quite sit well with Macbeth that she continually used her own funds on their wellbeing. Made him feel like he owed her to a degree, which was simply unacceptable.


	11. Orchard

**_Prompt: Orchard_**

* * *

Erik's locating an abandoned, overgrown apple orchard in which to temporarily resupply their food supplies was a stroke of good luck. The remains of the homestead that accompanied it were mostly unusable – extensive rot having long since set in – but just the addition of fresh fruit was welcome to their diet.

During a lull in the apple picking, Macbeth decided a quick nap was in order and curled up beneath one of the trees, wrapped up in his cloak for warmth. Much too soon, however, he found himself shaken awake, and he glared daggers for the next several hours at the armored mage that had come looking for him.


	12. Color

**_Prompt: Color_**

* * *

It was one morning, with the skies stained the color of old blood, that Erza took it upon herself to teach Macbeth the old saying, "Red skies at morning, sailors take warning, red skies at night, sailors delight."

"So which one are you – the warning or the delight?" he asked her in return, with a wry twist of his mouth and a pointed look at the blazing hue of her locks.

Gob smacked by the bold inquiry, Erza's mouth fell open and she blinked rapidly; but before she could formulate an answer, Meredy called her name, and she left Macbeth's side with a murmured apology and just the barest hint of relief in her eyes.

Someone really should have warned _him_ about _her._


	13. Picnic

**_Prompt: Picnic_**

* * *

It was a rare sunny day, with a brief, unseasonal warmth to it, when Erza suddenly stopped the group and insisted that they rest for a time. She pulled from her pocket space a large, checkered blanket, and several portions of their food rations – laying them upon the ground and sitting down beside it with an expectant look in her eyes.

"A picnic?" questioned Jellal, though he made no real fuss over the necessity of the break.

"My first one," Erza asserted, with a pointed stare at the former members of the Oracion Seis.

Luckily for Erza, they were trying to better themselves, and although Macbeth and Erik in particular bore wide smiles over the remembered incident from over half a year ago, they and the rest of the former Oracion Seis in the know decided to keep the bitter, bitter truth to themselves and just let her have that small deception.


	14. Blanket

**_Prompt: Blanket_**

* * *

Extra blankets did little to insulate Macbeth's body from the chill of the ground at night – the cold seeping into his muscles to lure him into a sleep he wouldn't awaken from. Fiore was generally considered a warm country, but on nights like this with such clear, frigid skies it was difficult to believe that.

"We need better supplies than what we have; our current blankets are too thin for the winter," he informed Erza one evening as they traded watches – as was now their custom as he could never sleep at this time of night if he tried.

Erza nodded, concern and weariness casting dark shadows beneath her eyes, and retired to sleep with a vague promise to do what she could about clothing and other winter supplies in the next town over.

Thinking over her unhealthy appearance, Macbeth thought that perhaps it was time for Erza to stop taking on all of Crime Sorciere's burdens onto her shoulders.


	15. Thanksgiving

**_Prompt: Thanksgiving_**

* * *

"A toast!" Erza declared one evening, a wide grin spreading across her flushed cheeks from the having deeply partaken of a defeated dark guild's liquor stash. "A toast of thanks giving to all of you, for welcoming me in when Fairy Tail disbanded. I owe you all so much so letting me accompany you."

The redhead's statement stuck in Macbeth's mind longer than he cared to admit that evening; it had honestly never occurred to him before that moment that Erza would be like them – without a home and nowhere to go.

Didn't mean that she belonged with _them_ , though.


	16. Shiver

**_Prompt: Shiver_**

* * *

Drunk Erza – it turned out – was an absolute terror, but not nearly as much as a _hungover_ Erza proved to be the next morning. A raging migraine and a sensitivity to sound did not make Erza a pleasant person to be around (though it could be said that it became more difficult to tell her and Erik apart, with her bedhead just as spiky as the dragon slayer's).

Having been tasked with the morning coffee, Macbeth dutifully handed the irate redhead's mug to her without attempting conversation.

She gratefully accepted the offering and the silence that accompanied it with a look of profound gratitude upon her face, her hand brushing against Macbeth's.

This contact, combined with her expression and the memory of her words the night before, brought out a profoundly odd shudder in Macbeth – one he was very much _not interested_ in thinking further about.


	17. Party

**_Prompt: Party_**

* * *

The impromptu party in concert with the plummeting temperatures convinced the wayward Crime Sorciere guild to set up shop in the former dark guild's lair. It had considerable winter stores already, easy access to water, and provided adequate shelter. There was the matter of the pervasive damp in the cavern, but that was manageable with a little effort.

Macbeth didn't really care for the cavern, but he'd lived in plenty of worse places than this, even if the damp stone walls did bring back memories he'd rather forget.

But he wasn't exactly the only one there with those memories.


	18. Scare

**_Prompt: Scare_**

* * *

Sure enough, Macbeth found his rests plagued with nightmares thanks to their new residence. Lingering terror pounded through his veins, even upon awakening – the demesnes so alike to the cells of the Tower that he didn't immediately realize that he wasn't back there.

Over the next couple of days, he struggled between his intense need for rest and the reoccurring horrors of his dreams.

He was far from alone in his struggle, he realized when he saw the large bags under Erza's eyes one morning – a mirror to the ones beneath his own.

Although the morning scares did not abate, Macbeth found them a little more tolerable after that.


	19. Peaceful

**_Prompt: Peaceful_**

* * *

Now settled for the immediate future, it brought to the guild a surprising period of peacefulness. There weren't many dark guilds within easy reach of the caverns Crime Sorciere resided in, and their stores were pretty well off, so there wasn't much for the group to do aside from drive each other batty in the confined space and train.

It was about this time that Macbeth observed Erza and Jellal hole up together on a regular basis, discussing something furtively away from the rest of the group. Erik commented that they weren't up to anything that concerned the rest of them, but Macbeth couldn't help the irritation that welled up within him whenever he saw them duck away for quick words.

Call it paranoia, but Macbeth had a feeling that the results of whatever was going on between the two mages would only spell out trouble in the end.


	20. Cuddle

**_Prompt: Cuddle_**

* * *

"Don't you dare wake the women up," Erik hissed at Jellal as the man moved to do precisely that. "They've only just fallen asleep in a cuddle pile in Meredy's room, and they kept me up all night with their incessant babbling, so if you do anything to ruin my peace and quiet..."

Threat delivered (and Jellal dutifully backing down), Erik then turned to Macbeth and gestured to all of him with a hissed, "And frankly I don't need to hear any of _that_ , either. I cannot believe what I put up with from all of you; you should all really be thanking me."


	21. Storm

**_Prompt: Storm_**

* * *

There wasn't much to do when a storm hits, or so Crime Sorciere found out the hard way. With the rain coming down like millions of Jellal's meteors, it would be pointless and almost suicidal to venture forth from their hideout.

So instead, they decided to play some of the games left behind by their hideout's former occupants (of which there was a surprisingly large number, though they were all of a rather morbid bent – which was to be expected from a death cult, to be honest).

Erza's face when she lost to Macbeth was an image he would treasure for the rest of his life. It may be a paltry victory, only a shadow in the face of the hell she'd put him through years before, but he'd take it, nonetheless (and possibly rub her face in it at every available opportunity).


	22. Pumpkins

**_Prompt: Pumpkins_**

* * *

Erza's insistence on decorating perfectly good gourds was bewildering to the former members of Oracion Seis. It wasn't as if the innards and seeds weren't saved to be used in their meals, but the sheer volume of it had them dreading their meals for the next week.

It was, however, somewhat fun to lob the glop at each other, and particularly at Sorano (so Erik discovered).

Later, when they were all exhausted from carving the tough gourds and their impromptu food fight and grinning like mad fools, Macbeth realized that before Erza had arrived in their lives, they had been pretty much devoid of all things fun.

It was, to his chagrin, somehow more difficult to resent her for her presence after that epiphany.


	23. Creepy

**_Prompt: Creepy_**

* * *

Their new home was rather creepy, even by dark guild standards, with the cave complex descending a little deeper into the earth than they had initially scouted, and the echoing sounds of dripping water from within (plus the resident bats) could keep anyone up at night even if they _didn't_ share Macbeth's nocturnal disposition.

But having the internal clock that he did, Macbeth was the least affected by the peculiarities of the caverns at night; he was long since familiar with the way shadows moved differently, and how disorienting darkness could be for those who weren't used to it.

Which is why it surprised him that sometimes Erza would keep him company through the deepest part of the night – after all, it wasn't as if he needed any reassurances.

But then again… maybe _she_ did.

He was more than a little disturbed by how much he _minded_ that she sought _him_ of all people out.


	24. Rain

**_Prompt: Rain_**

* * *

Even with the deluge, there were still things that needed to be done outside of the cavern, and today Macbeth had drawn the short straw, so out into the miserable rain he went.

It was after about ten minutes that he noticed that he was no longer alone in the downpour, a hazy vision in fire red and mud splashed legs beside him and gathering more wood to dry out with hands that shook.

But when he turned an inquisitive stare towards Erza, she just shook her head, and bit her lip hard without allowing her red-rimmed eyes to make contact with his.

Macbeth turned away, glad to not have to make small talk with the woman.

In return, he pretended the water flowing down her cheeks was from the rain.


	25. Fading

**_Prompt: Fading_**

* * *

The color was fading, slowly, from the world; with the changing of the seasons, the leaves were beginning to lose their vibrancy and fall to the ground, where they rotted, and the ambient light grew thin.

Crime Sorciere's unwelcome guest seemed to be fading along with it, her heart not into arguing with Erik or Sorano and providing only half responses to their wheedling. In turn, her fights with Jellal increased, in number and in volume, to the point that Erik was volunteering for scouting and patrol a lot more frequently to escape his headaches.

Macbeth did his level best to block out the sounds of the pair's flare-ups; it was none of his business how well they did or didn't get along.

That being said, he was beginning to fear that if Erza left them, his own newfound vibrancy would fade with it.


	26. Crisp

**_Prompt: Crisp_**

* * *

Cutting through his sleepiness, the crisp morning air after the storm's passing was a balm to Macbeth; it was harder to be melancholy when the world was bright and fresh (though Jellal certainly seemed to have no trouble in that department).

It seemed to revive Erza's spirits somewhat as well, with her smile returning and her playful banter with the others resuming – much to Erik, Meredy, and Sorano's relief, as they had been starting to worry for the redhead.

Unfortunately, with her mood improved, so too did her desire to spar with everyone in order to keep herself fit for battle; her eyes were glittering with enthusiasm as she brandished her sword at Macbeth, and a smile playing about her lips with her challenge to him.

He wondered why he had accepted, later, when he was laid out on the ground with her sword at his throat.

Yet, somehow, he found that this defeat didn't rankle nearly so much as the prior one had.


	27. Woods

**_Prompt: Woods_**

* * *

Snares reset, and two rabbits and an unidentifiable lizard in hand, Macbeth turned to leave the woods only to find Erza standing nearby. Startled, and embarrassed at failing to notice her approach (despite her not wearing her armor), he hissed at her, "Don't ever sneak up on dark mages if you value your life."

His words seemed to startle her as much as she had him, and color crept into her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she apologized hastily, and at seeing his furious expression remain, added in explanation, "I was just coming to check the snares, but… I see you've already taken care of it."

That seemed rather tenuous to Macbeth, given that she had drawn up the duties roster for all of them in the first place, but he was so angry at both himself and at her, that he didn't think to challenge the statement until much later – at which point, the opportunity to do so had long since passed.


	28. Cookies

**_Prompt: Cookies_**

* * *

A supply of sugar – discovered within their plundered larder – prompted a confectionary flurry as Richard and Erza attempted to outdo each other in their creations (with an extremely pleased Meredy as taste tester for both camps). As a matter of principal, the former Oracion Seis members stood with Richard's creations, even if they mostly couldn't tell the difference between them.

Jellal lamented the much depleted stores of sugar, but the group could find little to complain about, even if it meant that treats like this wouldn't be made again for a long time; they were used to doing without, anyway.

Macbeth did have to grudgingly admit that Erza's cookies were fairly tasty, though.

Her smile when he told her so wasn't entirely irritating.


	29. Trick-or-Treat

**_Prompt: Trick-or-Treat_**

* * *

"It's a holiday," Erza explained to her enraptured audience, "where children dress up as monsters, go to strangers houses and ask 'trick-or-treat', and if the owner doesn't provide treats, the children play pranks on them."

Erik and Sorano seemed far too invested in the pranking portion of that explanation, to Macbeth's observation, and Meredy with the treats part.

"I thought it would be a good way to use all of the leftover treats we made," Erza continued, sweating slightly under Jellal's rather judgmental gaze over the baking spree she and Richard had gone on, "and for us it'd be more like a party, since we're already well past the holiday and we're adults, but we can still dress up!"

To Macbeth's surprise, Jellal agreed, "It'd be a good way to use up some things before they go bad, so let's do it."

Macbeth saw little point in dressing up when the world already believed them to _be_ monsters, but he accepted the mask Erza handed him from her stores all the same.


	30. Ghost

**_Prompt: Ghost_**

* * *

The booze had long since begun flowing at their little party, Erik and Sorano's disappointment at the lack of pranks assuaged by the alcohol. The group was having a lot of fun, even though it just consisted of themselves (then again, Meredy and Jellal, and the Oracion Seis, really only had experience with small familiar groups, anyway).

It was almost midnight, when Erza approached Macbeth in her ghost costume. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" she inquired. "There's… something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now, and I just didn't have the nerve to do it without the masks."


	31. Halloween

**_Prompt: Halloween_**

* * *

Macbeth hardly saw her point when Erza wasn't even wearing a proper mask on her costume, but he found himself nodding along to her request, and allowed her to steer steered him away from the main festivities; they remained close by but set apart enough for the illusion of privacy.

"I wanted… I've been wondering what you all think of me being here, and I wasn't… I _need_ to hear an honest answer," Erza told him, not quite able to meet his gaze, even if it was hidden behind a holiday for masks.

Macbeth was surprised by the question, and by Erza's honesty herself with it; somehow, it had never occurred to him that she would have doubts and fears about the situation, since she never displayed any to them.

He thought carefully over his answer; his initial rejection at her presence was no longer the truth of his feelings, but he wasn't sure what he really thought, anymore.

"You aren't unwanted," he finally told her, for lack of better words to express himself; and although he still wasn't entirely comfortable with the wobbly smile spreading across her face, he wasn't about to reject it, either.


End file.
